Independent Arts Writer & Curator

2015 by numbers

2015 started with a bang with my first trip to Singapore to check out Singapore Art Week.

Happy new year! The fuse for 2016 is well and truly lit, but before it rockets out of control I decided to crunch the numbers for 2015 and see how I fared in my second full year of freelance life. So here are the stats for the year that was:

49 interviews conducted

28 hours of audio transcribed

33,565 words published

60 articles & essays commissioned

1 exhibition curated

5 panel discussions facilitated

12 clients worked with

5 art fairs visited

Making the most of my Starving Curator residency at The Bearded Tit.

2015 was also a year of firsts for me:

Facilitated a panel discussion – I threw myself in the deep end here, with the first of my Wandering Mind panel discussion series being included in the Vivid Ideas program and attracting an audience of 70 to Verge Gallery.

Wrote for an auction catalogue – I felt the pressure writing in this unfamiliar format but putting the works of formidable New Zealand painter Shane Cotton into context made it an enjoyable task.

Undertook a residency – I had a great time as Starving Curator in Residence at the Bearded Tit in Redfern, using the time to meet with artists and develop the exhibition ANIMAL/MINERAL/PHYSICAL/SPIRITUAL (and also drink wine and sample every cheese on the Tit’s excellent Jacuzzerie Boards).

Led an international tour group around Sydney galleries – I had a wonderful day with a group of arts lovers from New York’s Joyce Theatre visiting with Inzone Travel. The conversation ranged from contemporary art to Indigenous history to economic policy, and I’m proud to say I convinced a diehard Starbucks lover to enjoy a piccolo latte. (So hipster.)

Received a writing commission from overseas – I was commissioned to cover the Australian art market for Art Stage Singapore’s new publication Catalyst. I’m not great at goal-setting (those lessons in year 9 Personal Development class never really stuck) but being included in an international publication has long been an aspiration. Can’t wait for the finished product to be in the hands of fair-goers from across the Asia-Pacific!

The first panel discussion I ever co-ordinated was included in Vivid Ideas – a baptism by fire in front of 70 people.

My final commission for 2015 was another first, an interview with John Choi of architectural firm CHROFI for Vault Magazine. Choi and his colleague Tai Ropiha are the team behind the iconic TKTS red staircase at Times Square in Manhattan, and CHROFI recently co-designed Sydney’s Goods Line. I won’t lie; I was even more nervous than usual going into this interview. However our enjoyable and wide-ranging conversation confirmed for me that solid research and an open mind are key to understanding all manner of practices.

I covered such a range of contemporary culture and ideas in my work in 2015, and can’t wait to discover even more in 2016. I hope you’ve got an exciting year in store too!